2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Development of Efficient Si-nanocrystal-sensitized optical waveguide amplifiers
| Project/Area Number |
13555108
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 展開研究 |
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| Research Field |
電子デバイス・機器工学
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| Research Institution | Kobe University |
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Principal Investigator |
HAYASHI Shinji Kobe University, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (50107348)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HIBINO Yoshinori Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Photonics Labs., Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, フォトニクス研究所, 主幹研究員
FUJII Minoru Kobe University, Faculty of Engineering, Associate Professor, 工学部, 助教授 (00273798)
MORIWAKI Kazuyuki Kobe University, School of Science and Technology, Associate Professor, 大学院・自然科学研究科, 助教授 (50322194)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2003
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| Keywords | Optical amplifier / Rare earth element / Waveguide / Energy transfer / Silicon / Nanocrystal |
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| Research Abstract |
Er doped SiO_2 films containing Si nanocrystals as sensitizers have been investigated for an application to an efficient optical-amplifier. We demonstrate an optical-amplifier gain of 991cm^<-1> measured by the VSL (variable strip length) method at a wavelength of 1.55 μm using a slab waveguide. The amplification in the VSL measurement is observed within irradiation length of 60 μm in the slab waveguide. It has been found that the silicon-nanocrystals size (that is controlled by the annealing temperature) is very important to decrease the waveguide loss caused by excitons generated in the silicon nanocrystals. Core films containing silicon nanocrystals whose diameter is less than 2.7 nm show positive gain (that is amplification), because the above mentioned waveguide-loss is low. Sputtering and microfabrication processes to develop the optical amplifiers are deposition and RIE (reactive ion etching) of core patterns. A uniform core-film (4cmx8cm area) has been achieved on a 4 inch silicon wafer with a uniformity of ± 10 % in the photoluminescence intensity and the film thickness. 6 μm deep patterns in silica films have been fabricated using RIE, which can be used to fabricate the optical amplifiers. If the practical planar waveguide amplifier is realized at the wavelength of 1.55 μm used in optical telecommunication networks, a variety of novel photonic devices can be developed, because a new functionality is added to passive silica-based waveguide components.
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